Koro speakers' language is as different from that of their neighbors as English is from Japanese, yet Koro has only now been scientifically documented as its own tongue, according to the National Geographic Society's Enduring Voices Project. (The Society owns National Geographic News.)

Photograph by Chris Rainier, National Geographic

Koro Trio

Three Koro speakers gather at a house in a small village in northeastern India. Read full story >>

Only about 800 Koro speakers remain, and few of them are under 20, researchers say.

In India's Kichang village, Koro speakers, such as this mother, believed Koro to be a dialect of another language spoken in the area. Read full story >>

Photograph by Chris Rainier, National Geographic

Face of Koro

Koro speaker Sange Degio, of Arunachal Pradesh, India, is one of the few keepers of a dwindling flame. Roughly every two weeks a language goes up in smoke somewhere in the world, according to the Enduring Voices Project. Read full story >>

Photograph by Chris Rainier, National Geographic

For Posterity

Swarthmore University linguist K. David Harrison (foreground) and colleagues record stories and vocabulary as Koro speakers converse in Kichang village, India. Read full story >>